


Occam's Razor

by LettersFromTheAsylum



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Reveal, Secret Identity, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-02
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-20 23:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3668427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LettersFromTheAsylum/pseuds/LettersFromTheAsylum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was one person she hadn't considered: Barry.</p>
<p>In which the correct answer is Iris' best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Occam's Razor

Iris had thought it over countless times. Sometimes she would even stay awake at night, not sleeping until her brain was satisfied with whatever lie she had to tell herself. Yes, the Flash's identity was a mystery that was eating away at her.

He was very tight-lipped; careful to never give away the tiniest detail about his life. All she could do was wonder, and so she did. Was he a janitor? or maybe he was a cab driver. As secretive as he was, maybe he was a celebrity. Maybe he was a political leader. She couldn't decide if he preferred the spotight or the shadows.

The truth was, the man in the red suit had taken over every free moment she had. She had been watching over her blog like a hawk, ready to run if someone reported seeing him. Eddie had told her that it was okay not to go _every_  time but she had to watch. Iris had to make sure that if he did slip up, whether it be unmasking his voice or revealing a piece of information about himself, that she was there.

It started as a minor curiousity. There wasn't a person in the city who didn't at least  _wonder_. But then, it grew into a hobby, then an obsession. Iris had to know what made the man tick. He didn't just wake up one day with super-human speed and then decide to protect the city and coin the name 'Flash'. There was a reason. Every chance she got with him she asked him 'why' but he was an expert at doging questions. Why couldn't he just answer one question for her if she promised not to put it on her blog? It would be their little secret. No one had to know.

Iris had considered everyone. Harrison Wells? The wheelchair probably wouldn't fit in that skin tight suit. Eddie? Absolutely not. Cisco? Hilarious. Oliver Queen? Who would run six-hundred miles to protect a city he had no ties to? They only got even more unreasonable. Henry? Yeah, sure. Joe? She laughed at the vision of her father in a skin tight suit, running around at speeds higher than airplane and saving people. That wasn't happening.

Of course, there was the one person she hadn't considered: Barry.

Her best friend. The boy she grew up with. He wouldn't keep secrets from her. He was damaged and she knew everything about him. She knew that he slept with a night light until he was fourteen, and that he couldn't stand peanut butter. If he was a crime-fighting, lightning fast superhero, she would know.

But it fit. From the little bit of the Flash's face that was visible, it sort of resembled Barry's. And his voice. Despite the vibrations, she could hear his voice. It only helped when she first spoke to him but over time, it was becoming less and less. He had a voice that sounded like Barry's. They were both tall, and thin And Flash could be a bit awkward at times. Anyone that spoke to Barry for ten seconds could see that he was awkward.

Those were just coincidences though. So what they were eerilly similar. Barry was  _not_  a superhero. Barry did  _not_  have superpowers. Barry was  _not_  the Flash.

Barry  _was_  the Flash.

That's why he spent so much time at Star Labs. That's why he had been distancing himself from her since he woke up. He had been keeping secrets and lying to her. Barry - the boy she had known since childhood, who had comforted her when her mother left, had been her best friend since she first met him - was the masked vigilante that she been obsessing over.

The realisation startled her and she raced over to the precinct as fast as she could. Now, standing face-to-face with her best friend, she understood. All the signs she had missed before were running around her and screaming like banshees. How had she not seen it? It was blatantly obvious.

Iris skipped the dramatics. She didn't ask why or go on about how they were best friends and the foundation of a good friendship is trust. Instead, she did something that the Flash himself didn't see coming. She revealed a secret of her own.

See, there was something that the genius didn't know. Despite his scientific thinking and his big fancy words, he wasn't as smart as he thought he was; because he never realised one thing. Only after Iris' lips met his own did he realise it.

Iris was in love with him too.


End file.
